Little Moments
by Kyrotec
Summary: Rated T. A collection of oneshots taking place before or during Season One- the things we didn't get to see, focusing on a few close interactions at a time, and keeping as close as possible to the tone of the series.


Title:** Mealtimes  
**

Timeline:** Between Episodes 1 and 2. **  
Playthrough:** Doug playthrough.**

Lilly stood at the edge of the walkway near the makeshift tent as she gazed out across small colony of survivors that had formed in the Motor Inn. It was a pleasantly sunny and warm day, a circumstance which threatened to dilute the very real terrors that awaited them on the outside of their safe haven. Lilly watched with a small smile on her face as Clementine and Duck took what little advantage of this they were able, racing from one end of the open space to the other with grins on their faces. It wasn't a very big space to play in, but they made full use of it. From a distance, their respective guardians kept an eye on them, when they weren't preoccupied with their own work.

Lilly approached Kenny and Katjaa, who were presently stooped over a pile of broken-up furniture from the hotel rooms. They sifted through it with their bare hands, discarding unusable pieces into one pile and sorting the remainder by size and shape such as it would help fortify the wall. Kenny stood as she approached and wiped away the droplets of sweat from his creased forehead. Lilly didn't flinch as the smell of the two adults, who had been working hard in the sun, and who hadn't been able to bathe in weeks, drifted through the air over to her. Lilly was accustomed to it by now, and pretended not to notice out of respect. Though she was far from allowing Kenny to derive any satisfaction from it, she was grateful for their hard work.

They both looked her way, and stopped moving, angling themselves outward as she paused in front of them, Kenny with a deep frown on his face that Lilly was only too used to seeing. They waited quietly for what they likely assumed was an order or announcement. She acknowledged them both with a curt head-nod and then, with no further explanation, extended a hand towards Katjaa.

In it was a a stale, but otherwise edible, heel of bread, one of a scarce few Lilly had managed to keep until now in an airtight plastic bag alongside the other rations.

"Here you go, Katjaa," she offered, nudging the piece of bread in her direction.

Katjaa took it, graciously, clutching it with both hands and murmuring, "Oh... Thank you,"

Lilly didn't bother to look at Kenny. "It's not much," she admitted in a soft tone.

Katjaa nodded, and then the silence was broken abruptly by her husband.

"What about Duck?" he demanded, "What did he get to eat?"

Lilly gritted her teeth. She faced nearly the same inquiry every day from this man, and even though it had only been a couple of weeks of them all living together at the Motor Inn, it had started to take its toll on her. "Duck ate yesterday," she clarified, looking Kenny in the eye, and allowing a full measure of irritation to come out in her speech. "Today's Clementine's turn."

Lilly knew Kenny wouldn't take food out of Clementine's mouth, and that, combined with the fact that she had just fed his wife meant that, for once, she probably wouldn't have to expend her energy arguing with him. She watched the gears turning in his head until he evidently decided that the current food distribution was satisfactory and resigned from the conversation, draping an arm over his wife's shoulder as the two wandered away from the wood pile. Lilly saw him hold his hand up to decline Katjaa's offer to share the food before she turned away.

To her slight relief, the next person to approach her was Lee Everett.

"Hey, Lilly," he said simply. The smile he wore was a welcome change of pace from the way everyone else had come to react to her.

She nodded, "Hey, Lee..." She thought about trying to make small talk, or say at least something else, but decided against it. She had too many other things on her mind to waste much time on that. She uncurled her hand and held out to him a small bag of salted pretzels. "Could you give that to Clementine?"

Lee looked the food over for a second, but then took it with a warm, "Thanks, Lilly. She'll appreciate that."

Lilly wasn't quite sure what to say. "Good," she answered, before excusing herself from the area.

She didn't look back to see Lee's reaction to this. Instead, she made a beeline for the room next to hers. The door was already ajar, so she was able to slip right in.

All the rooms by now reeked of body odor and wood rot, the smells of which had long since become embedded in the furnishings. Lilly stood in the doorway, shifting on the stained green carpet as she found her father seated at the foot of the bed, his usual time-worn glare directed downward at the floor as he sat, evidently deep in thought.

She cleared her throat, making her presence known, "Hey, Dad."

His snarl didn't fade much as he looked up at her. The next thing that came out of his mouth was not a greeting, by most people's standards, either. "You know, you should really get that 'Doug' asshole to start pitching in more, I nearly threw my back out this morning tryin' to lift that chest out of the far room all by myself- he was standing right there, could've helped."

Lilly wearily replied, "I'll see what I can do."

"He just stood there like a dumb, lazy schmuck... letting everyone else do all the hard work," Larry continued. Only after he stalled out halfway through his train of thought did it seem to occur to him to address her any other way. When he did, he was nevertheless apologetic, "I'm sorry dear, did you need something?"

Lilly stared at him for a second, noticing that he seemed to be in a better mood than she typically found him in. She tried a smile. "I brought you rations for today," she offered, holding out what remained of the food she'd parted out which was a whole, if slightly shriveled, green apple.

Larry's eyes narrowed disdainfully at the food presented to him. He looked Lilly in the eye briefly, then turned away.

"Dad, just _take it_..." she entreated, force behind the latter of her words.

He looked up at her tired face and finally relented. He sent a large, calloused hand sliding over hers to pluck the meager piece of fruit out of her palm. He brought it to his teeth and bit into it, loudly, taking the food into his mouth where he ground it slowly on his back teeth, moving his jaw in a slow, circular motion. He seemed to be savoring it just a little bit.

His next, gruff utterance was audible, but only barely, "Thanks, Lilly..."

Lilly sighed deeply, feeling exhaustion settling in the core of her person. Her knees ached, her arms felt heavy, and she could tell just from putting her forefingers to her face how deep the bags under her eyes had to be. At least, she thought while looking at her father, she had gotten him to eat today.

She contemplated sitting down to watch him, if for no other reason than to make sure he ate the thing. Also possibly, to give herself recess from the tense situation outside. Larry didn't seem to care very much either way. She lingered for a while, listening to him almost-silently consuming his food.

After a while, he spoke up again, with the inquiry,"You remember Gebson?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. Of all the topics for him to decide to bring up now. "_Yes_, Dad," she answered.

Larry turned the food over in his hand as he continued what was to him, casual, idle conversation, "Boy, he was a real piece of shit, wasn't he?"

"Yes, Dad..." Lilly repeated, consternation tugging at her brow while a certain amusement threatened to force a smile onto her face. She would have agreed that 'Gebson,' _was, _in fact, a piece of shit, but she knew from their visit to the Air Force base that he was probably dead now, at the hands of a fate that Lilly would not have wished on him for what he'd done in her life.

She _also_ thought that chiming in alongside her father on the issue might get him on a roll, and she really wanted to keep his heart rate down.

He was quiet for a little while, and she thought maybe he had dropped the topic, until...

"I couldn't believe that dumb son-of-a-bitch got promoted before you did."

"I know, Dad..." she answered softly. She did know exactly how he felt about that, and how he felt whenever she hadn't gotten some recognition he thought she deserved. He'd gone off about that particular instance at length then in the privacy of their own home. Every now-and-then, though, he seemed to feel like bringing it up again.

"Just un-fucking-believable," he hissed. His commentary wasn't directed at anyone in particular.

She looked at the ceiling and sighed, "I know, Dad."

He took a swipe at the air with the hand on the opposite side from her, "Ah, what the hell am I complaining about? All those fuckers are probably dead now..."

Lilly pulled her gaze back from the ceiling to see him chuck the core four feet across the room into the trashcan, where it resonated with a loud clang and rolled to the bottom. He did this, and seemed to conclude the statement with a substantial amount of glee, prompting Lilly to zero-in on his face, studying him with concern.

At once, he seemed to stall out, freezing in place as his eyes locked on a point in the wall. He stayed still, a heavy sadness filling his features.

"They never did appreciate you..."

"Dad..." she stepped forward, reaching her hands out.

His mood shifted in an instant, and his temper flared up again before she could move any closer. He turned himself towards her, his intimidating presence halting her in her tracks, making her feel like a little girl again.

"No, I mean it!" he shook his head, sputtering wildly as his thoughts came pouring out raw, "You let people push you around... and _here_ it's no different! Those... those fuckers out there..." he gestured towards the door and then had to stop. He froze, a contorted expression of fury on his face, and she could see he was struggling to get any words out.

"Dad, your _heart_..." Lilly pleaded. It was the only thing on her mind.

The same expression of rage stayed put on her father's face for a moment or two. He strained against the biological forces holding him back before he seemed to have to shut himself down, one mental faculty at a time. He did this until his entire countenance had fallen still, at which point he collapsed, more or less, back into the bed with one hand clenched onto his chest.

When he could finally speak, it came out shallow and rasping, with an amount of pain spliced into every syllable, but at the same time, it was as if what he had to say was so important that the pain and the force it took to get the words out were inconsequential. "They... those bastards..."

"Dad, please..."

"They don't know what you do for 'em, Lilly... Not one of 'em."

"It's okay..."

"No!" he roared, sitting up with a horrendous scowl on his face before collapsing again. After that his voice came out hoarse again and this time thoroughly weak, "It's not okay... you go with out food, sleep... you need it, too... you figure out everything... make the tough decisions... and these _ungrateful assholes_..."

She reached down, acting before he could get any worse, and took his free hand, cupping it in her own as she knelt down to face him. She tried to meet his eyes with tenderness. "That's... just how it is, being the leader," she answered sadly, searching his face. "You know that."

He stayed focused on her, his eyes wild. His labored breathing echoed throughout the small room. He studied her, seeming for the moment to have trouble figuring her out.

"But..." his face softened, but he still seemed disproportionately stressed. His eyes darted around the room. He seemed to be struggling to get hold of his thoughts.

Lilly smiled gently as she met his gaze, forcing herself to stand her ground against the man who, despite having known him all her life, she still found intimidating, "I'll be fine."

He seemed to calm down, lapsing instead into a kind of complacent silence. His eyes flickered around the room. When he spoke again it seemed as though most of his prior strength had returned, and he seemed to have come to a satisfactory conclusion.

"If any one of them lays a hand on you I'll kill 'em," he stated simply.

Lilly nodded, knowing he was serious, and that this was most likely intended to be the end of the discussion. She stood, having already emotionally and mentally excused herself from the conversation, she made her way across the room without a word, having returned to combing through her internal checklist of things she knew she would have to deal with today.

He added, "Especially Everett..."

Lilly paused with her hand on the doorknob and turned abruptly to look at her father again. Her face split into a scowl and she rolled her eyes, "God, _that_ again? What is with you? What has _Lee __Everett_ ever done to hurt anybody?"

To her great surprise, he didn't falter at all, nor did he get angry. There was a hint of amusement in his tone that made her shiver a tiny bit as he replied, "Do you _really _want to know?"

She considered it for a moment, but ultimately decided she'd had enough for one day.

She shook her head, vigorously. "No," she snarled, yanking the door open. "Keep it to yourself. Whatever it is, it can't help us now..."

Larry clearly didn't agree, as was evidenced in the way he spoke his next remark, "You _stay away from him, _Lilly..." he warned.

She stared back at him over her shoulder for a second, her expression blank. Their gazes met for a moment, silently communicating numerous things she knew would have to be dealt with eventually. She gripped the door handle, staring him down, and then closed the door without another word.


End file.
